I looked, but it looks like it's been a while since a thread of this type (I probably overlooked it!). Anyhow, I need some help picking an anti-virus program.

My subscription to McAfee just expired. I've used it a few years but I've really not been overly thrilled with it, plus they are very proud of their renewal$ and will put a hook into your payment method and "auto-renew" for you if you aren't careful. I haven't picked up any viruses that it hasn't been able to deal with, though, so I will give it that much credit. It does seem to scan slowly at times during a full system scan.

So's...what is a good anti-virus program out there that you recommend? Free or pay, either way.

TwT...I think you were praising Kaspersky Internet Suit a few years ago...still using it?

Symantec products....I've been down that road and takes an act of congress to get it out of your system and you know how hard it is to get congress to do anything!

Also, anybody got any tips for ridding my system of McAfee?

Thanks for ya'll's help.Ed

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www.beeweather.comAmerican blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world. 320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror". Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA. But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

To remove Mcaffee or Norton products,you need to download the removal tools from their respective websites. They have them and they are free. Uninstalling leaves a bunch of the software behind. I would the use a registry cleaning software widely available. I have taken a liking to Advanced system Care(free) for this. Comcast quit including Mcaffee with their internet service and switched to a Norton Suite. The newer Norton seems to work much more quietly in the background than Norton of old. It does idle time scans so as not to use as many resources when performing other tasks.I don't know if this is anyone elses experience,but the newer Norton products seem much better than the old. But remeber to get the removal tool for your old security no matter what you do. It will save a lot of installation conflicts with your new software. :)

Avast has a good rep and I use AVG on the computer that doesn't need higher security. the new Norton, as buzzbee points out is much improved from the old hog that slowed everything to a crawl. Just saw Norton on sale somewhere. maybe Newegg, or Tiger?

if you are running Windows, especially 7, as your OS the newer security on the windows system seems to be much better than the old IF you keep it updated.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Thanks ya'll for the feedback. BuzzBee, I appreciate the link to the removal software, that will help greatly.

So Norton has attempted to mend it's ways, eh? I'll take a look at it. I used Norton for years but it tended to slow things down...it pretty well kept the wolves at bay, though, so no complaints on its protection abilities. If it isn't such a system hog anymore I would probably feel ok going with it. Has either of you looked at Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393678,00.asp ??? It appears to get a good rating (up there with Norton) from PC Magazine. It supposedly has a very small footprint but the bulk of it's definition database is "cloud based"...not sure how I like the cloud based apps, though apparently a lot of them are out there (and people using them).

I'm running Windows XP SP3.

Thanks,Ed

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www.beeweather.comAmerican blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world. 320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror". Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA. But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

I like AVG as good as anything I have ever used, it's not overly expen$ive and does a good job for us. Like most folks a have a list of AV software I don't like that is way longer than the one(s) I do.

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Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another. ~Ernest Hemingway

I run my own computer repair and support business and come across many different antivirus solutions every day. As said Norton has a tried to make their product a little less rubbish than what it was but I would still recommend staying away from it as its still bloated and will slow any PC that isn't high performance.

Kaspersky used to be a good product but in my opinion it is becoming more and more like Norton. At least once a week I get a customer with problems caused by Kaspersky.

I used to recommend AVG to everyone but I don't anymore. Its becoming as bad as the 2 above slowing computers and being bloated. Just look at the installer size.

I currently recommend 4 different products.

#1 Avast. I install this on every home computer I work on. Its a fantastic product all round. Does well at catching viruses and doesn't use as many resources as those other products. Just remember to disable "Sounds" after you install it ;)

#2 Eset Nod32. This is currently my preferred product for small businesses. Again it works well detecting viruses and doesn't use many resources.

#3 Panda Antivirus Cloud Edition. I have recently started using this for larger businesses. It works well at detecting viruses, being cloud based uses bugger all resources and has a central management console.

#5 Malwarebytes Antimalware. This is not an Antivirus program as such, its just a thorough malware scanner that scans every dark corner of your pc for nasty little bugs. I recommend everyone install this and run a full scan every month. After install it will ask you to trial the pro version. Select NO! The pro version uses a real time scanner that uses a lot of resources.

They auto renewed a couple of subscriptions on old computers that I no longer even had and I caught them billing me for them. That was the last time I did business with McCafee and I don't plan to ever do business with them again. It is difficult to get them to stop billing you and it is difficult to kill anti-virus software. It seems it is a virus...

They auto renewed a couple of subscriptions on old computers that I no longer even had and I caught them billing me for them. That was the last time I did business with McCafee and I don't plan to ever do business with them again. It is difficult to get them to stop billing you and it is difficult to kill anti-virus software. It seems it is a virus...

That's basically my story with Kaspersky

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Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another. ~Ernest Hemingway

"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may remember,involve me and I'll understand" Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." John F. KennedyFranklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

AVAST has had a couple of favorable comments here. I'm still skiddish of Norton, they've been in the business a long time, they've poured molasses in the cpu of many computers. I've stayed with McAfee the last few years because of my aversion to Norton so I don't see myself going back there. Now with McAfee, I'm not going back there, either.

If I installed AVAST would it be easy to remove it if I changed my mind and wanted to go with something different?

Thanks,Ed

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www.beeweather.comAmerican blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world. 320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror". Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA. But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

i don't know about anyone else, but i have a twitch about microsoft products. they tend to put them out and then let the consumer debug them. or at least complain about the bugs until microsoft puts out a "fix".

it might be a great product, but i'd hesitate to use it as my only protection.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

AVAST has had a couple of favorable comments here. I'm still skiddish of Norton, they've been in the business a long time, they've poured molasses in the cpu of many computers. I've stayed with McAfee the last few years because of my aversion to Norton so I don't see myself going back there. Now with McAfee, I'm not going back there, either.

If I installed AVAST would it be easy to remove it if I changed my mind and wanted to go with something different?

Thanks,Ed

Ed Avast is very easy to uninstall without leaving any left overs. Give it a try.

+1 for NOD32. I've tried numerous AVs over the years and NOD32 is by far the closest to install and forget it. I have had no performance issues and the only time I realize it is there is when it blocks something (about 3-4 times a year).

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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

i don't know about anyone else, but i have a twitch about microsoft products. they tend to put them out and then let the consumer debug them. or at least complain about the bugs until microsoft puts out a "fix".

it might be a great product, but i'd hesitate to use it as my only protection.

What?...You've never read on page 248 of most MS EULAs that we agree to be MS beta testers for life?

Ed

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www.beeweather.comAmerican blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world. 320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror". Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA. But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

For what its worth, I have used ESET for last few years now with our small business and really recommend it. I dont usually recommend anything, but have found it bulletproof and doesnt slow the systems down.

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We have designed our civilization based on science and technology and at the same time arranged things so that almost no one understands anything at all about science and technology. This is a clear prescription for disaster.

Thank you everybody for the input that you've given. I decided last night to try AVAST! and see how it works. I downloaded the free version from CNET. buzzbee, thanks for the link to the McAfee removal tool and for the registry cleanup program, both performed great.

Here's what I did:

I downloaded all three programs...AVAST!, Advanced Systemcare Free (registry cleaner), and MCPR.exe (McAfee removal). I then ran MCPR, followed by Advanced Systecare, and finally installed AVAST!. Everything went smoothly...it was *really* nice to see the McAfee icon disappear. :evil:

I left AVAST! running last night, but not in a deep scan mode. The computer is running this morning better than it has in several years...it has much more "snap" to it. :-D

Tonight when I go to bed I will do a deep scan on it.

buzzbee, I've got a question about Advanced Systemcare. It installed an icon in the system tray..."Active Boost: On". Clicking on it brings up the main program menu. Ok to leave it running, best to turn it off, or...???

I'm happy so far and will see how this works out. Thanks again for the suggestions and help!!!Ed

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www.beeweather.comAmerican blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world. 320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror". Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA. But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev

i don't know about anyone else, but i have a twitch about microsoft products.

Well yes. Since nobody else has mentioned it, if you use Linux you don't need any additional security. I know some people must use Windows because of company policies etc. but if you have a choice I would suggest that you at least give Linux a try. I use Ubuntu all the time and it does everything I need.

I hear you on the Linux. I've got another computer in the back running the kid glove Mint. Pretty easy to go from Windows to Linux using Mint. Problem is having so many document files in windows format and and sharing with others. WINE works pretty good, but there can be issues. I guess I just need to study up on Linux a bit more and, if push comes to shove, my wife can learn a few new programs. :) At least Firefox will be familiar. ;)

I found that I do have a problem, though, and it might be a big(?) one...in looking back at the log file of AVAST! it says that it located a file named MBR:\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0 and states the status as "ROOTKIT: Hidden boot sector" and says that the action (delete) will be done on the next boot up. Problem is AVAST doesn't take care of it when I reboot. Briefly reading on the internet it sounds like it could be bad or it might be nothing to worry over, but apparently AVAST things it's bad as it lists the "Severity" as HIGH. It sounds like a bugger to get rid of, too. Any suggestions on this one? :?

Thanks,Ed

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www.beeweather.comAmerican blood spilled to protect the freedom and peace of people all over the world. 320,000 USA casualties in WWI, 1,076,000 USA casualties in WWII, 128,000 USA casualties in the Korean War, 211,000 casualties in the Vietnam "conflict", 57,000 USA casualties in "War on Terror". Benghazi, Libya, 13 USA casualties. These figures don't include 70,000 MIA. But, the leaders of one political party of the United States of America continue to make the statement..."What difference does it make?".

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism."..."The press is our chief ideological weapon." - Nikita Khrushchev